Fly-wheel.



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I FLY WHEEL. (Application filed May 20,-1901.I

(No Model.

' & INVENTOI? WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

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wheel.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

THE \VESTINGI-IOUSE MACHINE COMPANY,

SYLVANIA.

A CORPORATION OF PENN- FLY-WHEEL. I

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,491, dated January 21, 19.02.

Application filed May 20, 1901. Serial No. 61,105. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CYRUS ROBINSON, asubjeet of the King of Great Britain, residing at Edgewood Park, in the county of Allegheny 5 and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fly-Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fiy-wheels used in connection with engine-shafts for the purpose 10 of steadying and maintaining uniform the operation of the engines, and it has particular reference to fly-wheels of such large size that it is inexpedient to make them as single eastings. 5 The object of myinvention is to provide a fly-wheel of built-up construction the parts of which shall be so combined that all of them shall unite in resisting the action of centrifugal force when the wheel is in use.

So far as I am aware in fiy-wheels that have heretofore been built up of several parts the combination of such parts has been such as to bring the strains due to centrifugal force almost entirely upon the central section of the In fly-wheels of great diameter and weight it is obviously important that the strain should be as uniformly distributed as possible in order that there may be no danger of accident when the wheel is rotating at 0 high speeds.

In order to avoid the dangers and difficulties heretofore attendant upon the use of built-up fiy-wheels, I have devised the means shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is afront elevation of a fly-wheel constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the wheel shown in Fig. 1.

The main or central portion of the wheel 1 is 0 made up of several segments 2, five of such segments being shown in the drawings. Each of the segments 2 comprises a hub-section 3, a rim-section 4e, and two arms or spokes 5. The hub-sections 3 are securely fastened together by means of annular plates 3 and bolts 3",

and the rim-sections are fastened together by means of wrought-iron links 6,havin g heads 7, that are located in corresponding sockets 8 in the adjacent rim-sections and are shrunk into 5 0 position, so as to securely hold the rim-sections together against centrifugal force. In order to insure the necessary weight, I provide supplemental rims 9 and 10, which are also made in sections, there being in the present instance five sections in each rim. These sections are so disposed that they break joints with each other and with the middle sections 4- They are preferably arranged symmetrically, as indicated in Fig. 1, so that, considering all three of the rims together, the joints between sections are equally spaced around the circumference of the wheel. The sections of each of the supplemental rims 9 and 10 are fastened together by Wrought-iron links 6, having heads 7, located in sockets 8. These parts are of thesame material and form as the corresponding parts employed for holding the sections 4 of the main rim together and are combined with the rim-sections in the same manner. It follows, therefore, that each of the rims is so constructed as to independently withstand the strains due to centrifugal force, and in order to resist rotary forces the rims are all fastened together by means of rivets 11.

By the construction shown and described I provide a wheel that has all of the advantages of wheels heretofore employed and the additional advantage of so distributing the strains that each section of the rim shall carry its own share.

Variations may obviously be made in the form, dimensions, and location of the parts without departing from my invention. I therefore desire it to be understood that the invention is not limited except in so far as limitations are imposed by the prior art and expressed in the claims.

I claim as my invention 1. Afly-wheel comprisinga plurality of segments each of which consists of a hub-section, one or more arms or spokes and a rim-section, the meeting ends of the latter having sockets, in combination with headed wroughtiron links shrunk into position in said sockets, supplemental rim-sections arranged to break joints with the mainrim-sections and having sockets in their meeting ends, headed links shrunk into position in said sockets and means for clamping all of the superimposed rim-sections together.

2. Afly-wheel comprisingapluralityofsegments each of which consists of ahub-section, one or more arms or spokes and a rim-section formed as a single integral member, in combination with means for locking the rim-sections together to resist centrifugal force, supplemental rim sections arranged to break joints with the main rim-sections, means for locking the supplemental sections together to resist centrifugal force and means for fastening the superimposed sections together to resist rotary forces.

3. A fiy-wheel comprising a plurality of seg ments each of which consists of a hub-section, one or more arms or spokes and a rim-section formed as a single integral member and the ends of the rim-sections being provided with sockets, in combination with links having heads located in said sockets, laterally-disposed supplemental rim-sections arranged to break joints with the main rim-sections and having sockets, links having heads located in said sockets and means for fastening the main and supplemental rim-sections-together, substantially as described.

4. A fly-wheel for engine-shafts comprising a plurality of segments, each of which consists of a hub-section, one or more arms or spokes and a rim-section formed as a single integral member and the ends of the rim-sections being provided with sockets, in combination with links shrunk into position in said sockets, supplemental rim-sections arranged to break joints with the main rim-sections and having sockets, headed links shrunk into position in said sockets and means for fastening all of the superimposed rim-sections together.

5. A fly-Wheel comprising a plurality of castmetal segments each of which consists of a hub-section, one or more spokes and a rimsection, supplemental rim-sections arranged to break joints with the main rim-sections, wrought-metal links for connecting the sections of each rim together andrivets for fast'ening the main and supplemental rims together.

6. A fiy-wheel comprising a plurality of segments each of which consists of a hub-section, one or more spokes andarim-section and constitutes a single casting, supplemental rimsections, said main and supplemental rimsections being provided with sockets at their meeting ends, wrought-metal links shrunk into said sockets and means for fastening all of the rims together, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this lOth day of May, 1901.

CYRUS ROBINSON.

\Vii'nesses:

ANNA G. CHANNELL, DAVID WILLIAMS. 

